The Kodak Medalist
was an unusual design for a medium format camera when it was introduced
in 1941. Most rollfilm cameras of this vintage were folders, similar to
the Kodak Tourist shown in this site. The
Medalist, however, was a rigid cast-aluminum body design with a unique
double helical lens tube in place of the conventional cloth bellows. This
design was stronger, protected internal mechanisms better and was nearly
as compact when the lens was retracted. The Medalist was used extensively
during WWII by the American services.

Like other
Kodaks designed to use 2.5 inch roll film, it was spooled on 620
spools, which had the same film width as 120, but with a smaller spool
core and thinner flanges. Film is advanced with a conventional knob, and
while there is a red window on the camera back to view the numbers on
the backing paper, this is only necessary to index the first frame; then
a small knob on the camera's top is set to start the auto frame measuring
feature. Winding the film cocks the shutter. Intentional double exposures
can be made by cocking the shutter manually again with a lever to the
right of the finder window.

The Medalist
has an unusually bright finder ,
for this period with its rear window just above the viewing window for
the split image rangefinder. This attempted to combine the best attributes
of the magnified rangefinder and the minified
viewfinder. Focusing is done by turning the large knurled ring in
the middle of the lens tube. While we take this focusing action as intuitive
now, it was limited to a few 35mm models then. The Medalist I also had
a smaller knurled wheel on the front of the body at the bottom left of
the lens that also could be used for focusing. This location was used
on the Medalist II for a recessed bayonet synch terminal. The viewfinder
is parallax corrected. Film is loaded and advanced to frame 1 using the
ruby window to index the backing paper; a film counter on the top of the
camera is set to "1"; when the film is advanced, it will automatically
lock the winding mechanism at the next frame.

Lacking interchangeable
lenses, the Medalist could not be considered a true system camera, but
medium format rangefinder cameras with interchangeable lenses were at
best rare in 1941. The Medalist was offered with a fair number of accessories.
The most unusual feature--the back design--allowed use of rollfilm, sheet
film packs and cut sheet holders. The back can be opened from either side
or removed completely. An auxiliary ground glass back can be fitted to
allow critical focusing and, when this is in place, 6x9 film packs or
6x9 sheet film holders can be used. While this arrangement did not have
the flexibility of the Ektra for film interchangability, it did allow
for direct focusing when doing closeup work. The Kodak Precision and Flurolite
enlargers were designed so that their enlarging heads were removable,
presenting a platform and accessories that could be used with the Medalist
and other highend Kodak cameras for copy work. We may be inclined to discount
such features now, but before thermal and xerographic copying was made
readily available in the early 60s, microfilming was an important way
of preserving personal and business documents.

The lens on
the Medalist is a 5-element coated f/3.5 Ektar
of a Heliar design by F. E. Altman
that is sharp, even by today's standards. The Ektar for the Medalist I
had inner air-glass surfaces coated. The Ektar for the Medalist II was
Lumenized, a superior hard single-coating process developed by Kodak that
employed magnesium fluoride that reduced inner reflections and increased
lens speed when using reversal films. The Medalist I had an unsynchronized
Supermatic #2 shutter, replaced in the Medalist II with a Flash Supermatic
shutter, with the same speed range. In most other respects, the models
were functionally equivalent. Lenses for cheaper Kodak lines were usually
purchased from other lens makers, but the Ektars were the result of a
corporate program in the 30s to develop new internal research and manufacturing
processes that would make cameras like the Ektra and Medalist world leaders.
Here is more information about Kodak Ektar
lenses, or see offsite links at
graflex.org
. The Medalist I was produced from 1941 to 1948; the Medalist II, from
1946 to 1953, when it was replaced by the Chevron,
a slightly larger design with a problematic Synchro Rapid shutter and
a smaller 6x6 format. Some of the Medalists produced during the war had
black anodized lens tubes. I've understood this difference was at least
partly because anodized aluminum is not as suceptible as raw aluminum
is to saltwater corrosion and Medalists were used extensively in the U.
S. Navy. The black lens tube may also have reduced flare in the viewfinder.

Because the
design of the 100mm Ektar on the Medalist was so successful and because
so many of these were produced, it is not uncommon to find the occassional
unmounted Medalist lens/shutter at auction or camera shows. Before you
get carried away, as I did, with visions of this lens mounted on your
Graphic 23 or a view camera, consider that it is not a typical lens/shutter
design for this period. In the linked window ,
you can see that the shutter/lens assembly is mounted on a large brass
ring that fits in the helical focusing tube of the camera. The shutter
is cocked by a lever on the back of the camera driving a linkage that
rotates the shutter cocking plate on the rear of the shutter. Shutter
remounting and building a linkage to cock the shutter, even for mounting
on a bellows camera for groundglass focusing, would be a significant project
for a skilled photo machinist, since most of the shutter mechanism must
be removed. Mounting this lens for use on a camera with a helical mount
coupled to a rangefinder would involve shimming the Supermatic shutter
for accurate focusing. If you are interested in this lens formula, consider
the similar 105mm f /3.7 Ektar .
You can also mount the Medalist lens groups in the standard #2 Supermatic
or the larger of the Flash Supermatic shutters, but for critical use this
mounting should be checked to assure that the front and back groups are
accurately spaced on the shutter you are using.

The
Medalist is often described as a large, heavy camera. For storage, the double
helical tube retreats into the body, for a total depth of 3.75 inches; fully
extended it is 5 inches deep. The comparison below is perhaps a bit unfair,
since the Nikon has BTL metering, but by 1965 standards could the Medalist
be considered large and heavy? Considering that the Medalist produced a
6x9cm negative, it was compact when compared to 2x3 press cameras, though
a different shape is not really larger than 6x9 folders, like the Monitor
or Tourist.